Add Gonzaga and St Mary's

[Xudash]

okay, okay.

West Coast is not realistically doable (although adding the 2 catholic schools USD & USF would be nice).

Sooo. If you were to ask me (and no is) to pick from the AAC and the A-10 ONLY, while we await the ACC implosion. These are git's picks.

AAC - Temple. I don't give a heck what Gumby, Jack, Jay Wright, or other Novaites say.
A-10 - 1 or 2 of these: St. Bonnie, and either LaSalle, Holy Cross, or UMass.
Other - Carleton U, Toronto, CAN.

Temple has excellent pedigree and would be like UConn - regaining competitiveness in short order.
The Bonnies, HC, and LaSalle all have pedigree - ancient, but pedigree none-the-less., UMass has the Camby title.
Carleton U, Toronto, CAN. Both I and Billyjack have brought up CU previously. Excellent pedigree with a dozen championships. Excellent Hoops school.

While none 'move the needle', they add name value and initially boost the top/middle of the conference.
See ancient posts by - ?? (My guy up north...?? Adding middle/bottom teams to boost the top) ...name escapes me...
When the ACC implodes take Duke/Golden Domers or Duke/S'Cuse and call it 18.

PS: Although the Hall (Hall2012) may have got it right (18-team config) 2 years ago: http://holylandofhoops.com/forum/viewto ... &start=230

gtmo - - LaSalle! Have you lost your mind?

In a world that requires commitment and investment, LaSalle is the bottom of the barrel on both. And I truly believe in respect for a fellow conference member's preferences when it comes to considering new additions. In no way is LaSalle a threat at any level to Villanova, but why take a precious potential membership slot and load it in with another school from Philly? Temple isn't happening for the same reason.

[DeltaV]

My guess is that 0/11 Big East Presidents would vote to add either.

Probably, which is why I just think Gonzaga's too much of a geographic outlier with no good pairings. Unless the money's going to be dramatically better, would rather stand pat or, if they absolutely needed more volume, add out of the A-10 (or the AAC if we're really getting nuts).

I think the biggest indication that Gonzaga isn't happening is that it hasn't happened. It's not like they're a new up and comer, or a historical program that turned themselves around.

If they were going to be added, it would have happened by now. I don't see the football conferences going coast to coast being enough of a change for us to do so as well.

[DeltaV]

okay, okay.

West Coast is not realistically doable (although adding the 2 catholic schools USD & USF would be nice).

Sooo. If you were to ask me (and no is) to pick from the AAC and the A-10 ONLY, while we await the ACC implosion. These are git's picks.

AAC - Temple. I don't give a heck what Gumby, Jack, Jay Wright, or other Novaites say.
A-10 - 1 or 2 of these: St. Bonnie, and either LaSalle, Holy Cross, or UMass.
Other - Carleton U, Toronto, CAN.

Temple has excellent pedigree and would be like UConn - regaining competitiveness in short order.
The Bonnies, HC, and LaSalle all have pedigree - ancient, but pedigree none-the-less., UMass has the Camby title.
Carleton U, Toronto, CAN. Both I and Billyjack have brought up CU previously. Excellent pedigree with a dozen championships. Excellent Hoops school.

While none 'move the needle', they add name value and initially boost the top/middle of the conference.
See ancient posts by - ?? (My guy up north...?? Adding middle/bottom teams to boost the top) ...name escapes me...
When the ACC implodes take Duke/Golden Domers or Duke/S'Cuse and call it 18.

PS: Although the Hall (Hall2012) may have got it right (18-team config) 2 years ago: http://holylandofhoops.com/forum/viewto ... &start=230

Yeah... I'm just going with no, for all of this. I think all this football expansion is making people crazy.

[kayako]

Gonzaga, St. Mary's, San Francisco... yeah this is how you can end up with a couple of east coast schools wondering whether this is the best conference for them going forward. Thankfully Val and the Presidents aren't that crazy.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Git, love you buddy but Tom Gola and Lionel Simmons are not walking through that door any time soon. La Salle is shot as a BB program, play in a high school gym and from what I heard may struggle to keep its doors open the next decade.

You can make an argument for Temple but I think there are better options out there and Temple (like UConn) continues to think of itself as a viable football school. So if we have the chance to be selective why take a 2nd school in the same market and one that still has aspirations for sneaking into a more prestigious (football) conference than the AAC? I think there could be better options if we are patient.

End of the day, post realignment, this conference has never been stronger as a premier hoops conference. I get why expansion might mean more stability, but we are in a strong position. Honestly it might not be AD's but rather media partners who dictate further expansion. Gonzaga is the only prize out there right now that embraces the core tenants of the conference--BB excellence, focus, investment and commitment above all else. If you don't meet that criteria specifically and completely I'd pass.

[Burrito]

I wonder if Stu Jackson (the former Associate Commissioner of Big East Men's Basketball) would have accepted the Commissioner Job of the Western Coast Conference (WCC) 6 months ago if the Big East had been seriously thinking of poaching Gonzaga and St. Mary's.

[billyjack]

I wonder if Stu Jackson (the former Associate Commissioner of Big East Men's Basketball) would have accepted the Commissioner Job of the Western Coast Conference (WCC) 6 months ago if the Big East had been seriously thinking of poaching Gonzaga and St. Mary's.

I think this is a great point. Stu Jackson was a longtime Big East guy in the upper admin of our conference. I think that makes a poaching of Gonzaga very unlikely (although with recent football movement that may have changed).

Maybe Stu Jackson's goal is to upgrade the WCC to a true legit western twin of the BE. i think another strong basketball first conference, *on the west coast*, makes us stronger-- say if football schools, cuz theyre idiots, want to set up their own breakaway NCAA tourney, a great WCC is good for us.

Maybe Stu will stick a pin into lazy programs like Portland and Santa Clara and LMU... really no excuse for these schools to suck for so long.

[billyjack]

If the Big East were to expand, and the semi-realistic semi-plausible schools become available, this is my updated list of preferences:

A rating of 90 or higher means i would favor
inviting them now. A rating of say 12% means theyve only achieved about an eighth of the requirements to join us-- still a ton of work for them to do.

This is a highly scientific ratings system that i pulled out of my lower intestine. Actually i think it does provide an idea of my level of enthusiasm and thoughts of potential contributions for these many schools... like, Davidson is not even on my radar, whereas i'd like to keep an eye on Saint Thomas to track their growth (just under 20% accomplished).

This accounts for new footprints... and access to an NBA arena (or a nearby arena capacity of 12k or more) is a big boost... tradition is big boost... fans that give a sh-t is a big boost... big cities provide a big boost... some sort of hook like a fresh up and coming program is a big boost if paired with combo of big city (like FAU gets a boost, while Saint Louis gets downgraded).

And i go into this with absolute disregard for the Hoya clownshow and their feelings.

Please note: this list is unscientific and i just had a gummie 45 minutes ago.

100 - Notre Dame.
100 - Syracuse.
93 - Gonzaga.
- - - cut line - - -
69 - Dayton.
49 - VCU.
35 - Carlton Univ of Ottawa.
19 - San Francisco (Warriors arena).
18 - Florida Atlantic.
10 - Saint Thomas (T-Wolves arena).
7 - Northeastern.
5 - St Bona (must play all in Buffalo)
3 - Vermont (play half in Montreal).
3 - Siena.
3 - St Mary's (play all in Oakland)
3 - Holy Cross.
0.01 - Boston Univ.
0.003 - Detroit Mercy.
0.002 - Univ of Toronto.
0.0007 - Richmond.
- - - 2nd cut line - - -
0 - McGill in Montreal (team sucks).
0 - Saint Louis.
0 - Davidson.
0 - Boston College.
0 - Pitt.
0 - West Virginia.
0 - Wake Forest.
.
* FAU provides a winter vacation destination for all of us as we freeze in February, along with a boost from transplanted BE retirees in that West Palm to Miami corridor.

** JPSchmack i think is the Bonnies fan. None of us should drive to Olean in January, madonne!
.

[Django]

Why so harsh to the Billikens Billie? Did your classmates call you the that in junior high?

I know they need to get good and start filling their arena first but they make sense to me, but I’m biased because I went to Creighton and the Jebbies root for each other. Also great geography.

[Xudash]

Billy, first and foremost, I hope the gummie was joined by a good beverage and some good music while you typed that out.

I'll go back to a point I've made before about all this: if we add anyone from the "90 Column" it will be a signal that the Big East Conference is in very good shape. It means we would be attractive enough to add brands that are valued for basketball and that would strengthen us overall. The 3 schools you listed certainly would do that.

On the other hand, if we have to dip below the "90 Column" then we probably would be making moves that would be coming from a weaker position.

Otherwise, under what circumstances would you consider adding Rhode Island to the list? And were you once bitten by a Billiken? What's up with St. Louis buried that far down the list?